In the evolution of protective garments, there has been an ever pressing desire to develop stronger, lighter, thinner, more breathable and thereby more wearable garments. Such garments are intended to resist certain potentially lethal forces such as those from gun shots. Typically, these garments are designed to protect the wearer from ballistic forces by preventing penetration through the garment from a projectile bullet.
Attempts at developing thinner, lighter, flexible and more breathable protective body armor have been made in order to create garments that are more wearable to the user. The more light and thin the protective ballistic resistant garment is, the more likely the user (such as a law enforcement officer) will actually wear the garment, especially during the long hours of a working shift.
It is also desirable to have the protective body armor garment cover as much of the wearer's torso as possible while also maintaining wearability. The thinner and lighter the protective article, the more coverage can be offered. Concealability of the anti-ballistic body armor may also be improved if it is constructed to be thin and non-bulky. These attempts at developing thin and lightweight ballistic resistant body armor articles have also been made to try to allow increased freedom of movement and mobility so that the law enforcement officer wearing the article is not hampered from doing his or her job.
These attempts at reducing weight while improving the thinness of the article have previously been made by the utilization of multiple layers of woven sheets of ballistic resistant material. High tensile strength aramid fibers such as Kevlar.RTM. produced by E.I. DuPont de Nemours & Company of Wilmington, Del., have often been employed in forming the woven ballistic resistant fabric. However, to increase the level of protection against higher caliber pistols and firearms more layers of ballistic resistant fabric are unfortunately required thereby increasing the overall weight and thickness of the garment while reducing its flexibility.
Various voluntary governmental ballistic standards have been established to certify certain ballistic resistant garments. The tests determine the ability of the garment to resist penetration from various ballistic rounds shot from various types of weapons. In particular, the National Institute of Justice (NIJ) Standard 0101.03 certification tests is a frequently used ballistics test for certifying certain body armor products. The NIJ Standard 0101.03 certification tests are grouped into different threat levels, with each threat level corresponding to ballistic projectile penetration stopping capabilities of various ballistic rounds fired from designated weapons. For generally concealable type ballistic resistant body armor NIJ Standard certification tests are often performed for NIJ threat levels IIA, II and IIIA. NIJ threat level IIIA is a higher standard level than NIJ threat level II and which in turn is a higher standard level than NIJ threat level IIA. There is therefore a need to provide the thinnest and most lightweight protective body armor garments as possible to increase their wearability, while also meeting test specifications of NIJ Standard 0101.03 Threat Level IIA, II and IIIA certification tests.